Orchestra-bells.



PATENTED NOV C. H. AGNE. ORCHESTRA BELLS. APPLIUATION FILED MAY 31. 1902.

N0 MODEL.

/N VENTOH WITNESSES A TTOHNE Y mz-uonms pnzns co. PHOTO-LITHQ, WASHWGTON, n. c,

Patented November 3, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. AGNE, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

ORCHESTRA-BELLS.

SPECIFICATION rming part of Letters Patent No. 742,952, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed May 31 1902. Serial No. 109,635. (No model.)

, ing had to the accompanying drawings, formside elevation of the same.

ing a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in orchestra-bells, and the object is to produce an aluminium bar,preferably channel-shaped, which will produce an exceptionally fine tone.

While the essential and characteristic features of my invention are necessarily susceptible of modification, the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents an orchestra-bells embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a Fig. 3 represents a sectional end view taken on lines m w in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 represents a plan view of my improved bar. Fig. 5 represents an end elevation of the same. Fig. 6 represents a side elevation of the same, and Figs. 7, 8, and 9 represent modified forms of the bar.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

or represents a musical instrument of the type known as orchestra-bells, consisting of a felt-covered supporting-frame b, upon which are mounted a series of aluminium bars 0.

After exhaustive and expensive experiments I have discovered that the bars 0 when made of aluminium produce when operated upon in the usual manner a tone far superior to those made of steel, which heretofore have been exclusively used. The preferred form of bar shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 is channel or U shaped in cross-section and is preferably made out of sheet-aluminium of the required quality cut to the required width and then bent downward in order to form the sides 01 d; but the bar may be cast solid and the groove in the under side can be milled or cut out with an ordinary milling or cutting tool, or, if preferred, the bar can be cast with the bosses e on the under side of the bar, which bosses form or constitute a long bearing for the spacing-pins f, which are secured to the felt-covered frame I). The pinsfare secured to the supporting-frame Z) in any well-known manner and form a spacing means for the bars 0 and at the same time keep them in operative relation with each other when operated upon. The bars 0 can be and are usually made with or without the bosses 6, (see Fig. 7,) the principal advantage of the boss being to prevent the bar when struck an unusually hard blow from disengaging itself from the pin f. I have shown a modified form of bar in the form of atubular bar, (see Fig. 8,) which also produces ex ceedingly fine tones.

It will be observed that the channel or U shaped construction of my aluminium bar presents less bearing-surface for the bar to rest on the supporting-frame than those heretofore employed which were made of solid steel and in which the entire width of the bar rests on the supporting-frame. My construction aids materially in producing a clear, mellow, and exceedingly fine musical tone which has been foreign in the steel bars heretofore employed in musical instruments of the class herein described. It will also be observed that the weight of my improved bar is materially less than the steel bars heretofore used for similar purposesa fact which is of great importance, considering that the in struments on which the bars rest are portable and are carried about from place to place, and the number of bars usually employed range from eighteen to thirty.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In an instrument of the class herein described, the combination of a series of aluminium oblong bars U-shaped in cross-section, bosses on the under side of said bars for the reception of spacing means, a supporting-frame and means for spacing said bars on said frame, substantially as described.

2. In an instrument of the class herein described, the combination of a series of castaluminium oblong bars U-shaped in crosssection, bosses on the under side of said bars for the reception of spacing means, a feltcovered *supportingframe, and means for spacing said bars on said frame, substantially as described.

3. In an instrument of the class herein described, the combination of a series of aluminium oblong bars U-shaped in cross-section, bosses on the under side of said bars for the reception of spacing means, holes in the side Wall of said bars for the reception of a tape for maintaining the bars on the frame to prevent the bar from accidental displacement from the frame, a felt-covered supporting-frame and means for spacing said bars on said frame, substantially as described.

4. In an instrument of the class herein described, the combination of a series of oblong aluminium bars, grooved longitudinally on their under side, a supporting frame and means for spacing said bars on said frame, substantially as described.

5. A musical instrument consisting of a feltcovered frame, a series of oblong aluminium bars U-shaped in cross-section, and a curved upper surface, bosses on the under side of said bars for the reception of spacing means, and means for spacing said bars on said frame, substantially as described.

6. A musical instrument consisting of a felt-covered frame, a series of cast-aluminium bars U -shaped in cross -section, and a curved uppersurface mounted on said frame, bosses on the under side of said bars for the reception of spacing means, holes in the side Walls of said bars for the reception of a tape for maintaining the bars on the supportingframe to prevent accidental displacement from the frame, and means for spacing said bars on said frame, substantially as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 29th day of May, 1902.

CHARLES ll. AGNE. lVitnesses:

FREDK. O. FISCHER, Ms. C. ERBACK. 

